The Ford Barn

UpNorthGreg · 11-12-2025, 05:38 PM

I picked up a parts motor from a '53 Mercury. Pulled the crank and confirmed it as a 4" stroke. It has some numbers cast into it (M 511: ) that I can not find referenced anywhere. Anyone seen these before?

petehoovie · 11-12-2025, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UpNorthGreg

I picked up a parts motor from a '53 Mercury. Pulled the crank and confirmed it as a 4" stroke. It has some numbers cast into it (M 511: ) that I can not find referenced anywhere. Anyone seen these before?

KiWinUS · 11-13-2025, 06:37 AM

I have some with similar numbers but no idea what they mean.

tubman · 11-13-2025, 09:02 PM

They meant something to management at the foundry 75 years ago, but that knowledge is gone and wouldn't interest us anyway.

I blame the "Matching Numbers" Corvette guys for this because the GM system made sense and provided useful information. Ford, not so much.

rotorwrench · 11-14-2025, 11:22 AM

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The Mercury crankshafts changed in 1951 to allow fit up of the torque converter for the automatic transmission. It was a 1CM prefix part due to that, but that may have changed if outside contractors ever got involved. The flathead Mercury crankshafts were made in some numbers for spare parts after the change to overhead valve in 1954 but I don't know if that may have been an identifier or not. With Ford, anything is possible.

11-13-2025, 06:37 AM	#3
KiWinUS Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Charlotte NC KiWi-L100 available here Posts: 3,415	Re: Odd '53 Merc crankshaft numbers I have some with similar numbers but no idea what they mean.

11-13-2025, 09:02 PM	#4
tubman Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Minnesota, Florida Keys Posts: 12,132	Re: Odd '53 Merc crankshaft numbers They meant something to management at the foundry 75 years ago, but that knowledge is gone and wouldn't interest us anyway. I blame the "Matching Numbers" Corvette guys for this because the GM system made sense and provided useful information. Ford, not so much.

11-14-2025, 11:22 AM	#5
rotorwrench Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 18,006	Re: Odd '53 Merc crankshaft numbers Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) The Mercury crankshafts changed in 1951 to allow fit up of the torque converter for the automatic transmission. It was a 1CM prefix part due to that, but that may have changed if outside contractors ever got involved. The flathead Mercury crankshafts were made in some numbers for spare parts after the change to overhead valve in 1954 but I don't know if that may have been an identifier or not. With Ford, anything is possible.